Crofton, MD

We Crofton MD residents do love our tall, stately Oak Trees for the beauty and shade that they provide all summer.

Now that summer is over though, all I can say is, UGH!

The annual Crofton chore of leaf collection is in full progress from now until mid to end December. As a matter of fact, those last few dead leaves will probably still be there in the Spring.

It doesn't matter how many times you rake and bag them, the next day it looks like you didn't do a darn thing.

There are some people on my block that rake leaves every day. That's not a hobby, that's an obsession. I'm good for once every week or two.

The pile you see here is from this weekend.

Anne Arundel County MD trash collection has a special leaf pickup on Mondays during this time of year. They do have to be bagged and placed at the curb. At the height of the season, they'll send trucks in over the weekend to get ahead of collections.

I'm done for today. Last leaf blown, picked up and bagged. Sigh...there is never a "last leaf" in Crofton.

If you're SEARCHING for a home anywhere in Maryland, click here to view ALL ACTIVE LISTINGS.

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114

410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist
Bowie MD Real Estate Specialist
Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist

©2009 - RichSellsHomes, All Rights Reserved

All photos and written content were produced by Richard Iarossi. Copyright 2009 - All Rights Reserved. This content may not be reproduced or reprinted, except for Active Rain Re-blogging, without express written permission of Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®, Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc., Crofton, MD.

It's a November tradition for the Crofton Village Garden Club to make patriotic-themed floral arrangements for wounded soldiers and other patients. Each member makes two or three of them so we'll be sure to have enough for all 120 patients at the VA Rehab and Extended Care Facility in Baltimore, Maryland.

This is a very easy and inexpensive activity that your garden club, scout troop, office or other organization could easily duplicate, following the steps in this brief video. With 40 participants, it can be accomplished in an hour or less.

Please join us in thanking our wounded veterans in November and throughout the year.

Why is it that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources went to great lengths to drain the pond on private property west of Route 3 in Crofton a few years ago when a Northern Snakehead fish was discovered there? (National Geographic News)

The answer depends somewhat on who you ask, but one common denominator in any conversation about this is the pond's proximity to the Little Patuxent River, just 75 feet from the pond. Officials and biologists were worried that this "air-breathing, land-crawling, voracious predator" would invade the state's river system and even reach the Chesapeake Bay, causing irreparable harm.

However, Maryland Department of the Environment apparently isn't concerned about the impact of development on this site, so close to the Little Patuxent River. In fact, they have issued a permit for a big box store there. I guess they don't anticipate that development of this wetland will impact the environment as negatively as that 24-inch long fish; that pollution and runoff to the Little Patuxent River, affecting the state river system and even the Chesapeake Bay, will not be a problem. Go figure!

I wonder, then, why this property was included in the Patuxent Greenway System established to protect “important” lands" If its location within the bounds of a designated State Scenic River in the critical area doesn't protect this property, can any land in Maryland be protected from a future covered in concrete?

These beautiful wildflowers were photographed at the site where the pond is located and the permit has been issued:

For more about this, please read Will This Maryland Wetland Soon Become Concrete? - Part I.

Crofton residents have successfully opposed the owner of this property and his various development schemes in the area for over 20 years. Unfortunately, this time he has succeeded in getting this critical permit from the government agency charged with responsibility for protecting our environment.

The Greater Crofton Council is an excellent resource for updates about this and other matters of local concern, so be sure to bookmark their website and check it often.

Look for Part III of this series next week on the Maryland Real Estate Blog.

PHOTO: Kathryn Para

It doesn't take much research to know that there are a large number of foreclosures on the market, including some Crofton, MD homes for sale. Picking up a foreclosure property in Crofton, MD could be a great investment, but buyers do need to be careful.

If you're interested in including foreclosure properties in your home search, make sure you have a qualified, local Realtor to assist. The process to buy a foreclosure does differ a bit from a regular residential resale. Also, buyers agents usually get paid from the seller in a transaction. Even if the property is a foreclosure, where the owner is a bank.

There are three distinct phases of foreclosure activity. Once an owner stops paying their mortgage the lender will file for a notice of default. Remember all those documents you signed at closing. One of them gave the lender the right to do this. At this stage its really called a preforeclosure.

The bank has an obligation to post a public notice in the paper several times before they can go to court and take the property back. Once the court ordered foreclosure is complete, the bank can sell the property at auction on the courthouse steps in Annapolis, MD. Thats right, the auctioneer is on the courthouse steps and announces each property for sale. If there are no buyers at a price acceptable to the bank, the property reverts back to the lender, and will soon go on the market.

Banks aren't real estate companies, so their properties are listed for sale with a local brokerage. These are called REO properties, meaning Real Estate Owned.

Most buyers agents will tell you that they prefer working with a foreclosure than a short sale any day. Banks seem to have their act together on foreclosures, while short sales still have serious process problems, in many cases.

I can help if you're interested in looking at foreclosures anywhere in the Annapolis MD area. If you're not already working with an agent, give me a call at 443-995-9595.

Crofton, MD has 10 bank owned foreclosures for sale, and more in the preforeclosure stage. If you would like a listing of the Crofton, MD foreclosures, just eMail me at Rich@RichSellsHomes.com.

If you're SEARCHING for a home anywhere in Maryland, click here to view ALL ACTIVE LISTINGS.

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114

410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com

Annapolis MD Real Estate Specialist
Bowie MD Real Estate Specialist
Crofton MD Real Estate Specialist

©2009 - RichSellsHomes, All Rights Reserved

For the next few weeks, I'm going to share with you weekly photos of the wetlands on the west side of Route 3 in Crofton, Maryland. Enjoy them while you can because the property owner has somehow managed to obtain a permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment to develop this natural wetlands area into a site for a big-box store.

Community residents and activists successfully drove Walmart away and assumed the issue was dead. Little did we know that the permit process continued. Even if we had known it, who could have imagined that our state Department of the Environment would allow development of this 20-acre parcel along the Little Patuxent River.

It is, after all, within the bounds of a designated State Scenic River, in the critical area, and it is a part of the Patuxent Greenway System established to protect “important” lands.

Many thanks to Dick Lahn for this description of the area and to Kathryn Para for her photo. More information and more photos will follow over the next 4-6 weeks.

By the way, if you click through to this Letter to the Editor by Dick Lahn, you will see his two photos of this area 30-40 years ago, when it was known as Walch's Grove. The difference between then and now really is mind-boggling - but not as much as it will be if this area is paved over in concrete for future generations.

Will This Maryland Wetland Soon Become Concrete - Part II